>Hidden cozied up to Betelgeuse, a bright red star in the constellation Orion, astronomers may have finally found the giant star’s long-sought companion. This close-orbiting partner, first postulated over a century ago, [matches some predictions](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/betelgeuse-hidden-companion-star) and adds another piece to the puzzle of the mysterious supergiant star.
>The images, to appear in the *Astrophysical Journal Letters*, show the companion only faintly. The astronomers, and others in the field, agree that the discovery, while exciting, is not definitive.
>“I think at this point it’s quite tough to say whether or not the detection is believable,” says Sarah Blunt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz who was not involved with the study. “We’ll have to wait and see if the companion can be confirmed with more instruments.”
>If confirmed, the new star would conventionally be named α Orionis B. Previously, it has been informally called the Betelbuddy, and the astronomers behind the new work suggest the name Siwarha, meaning “her bracelet,” in reference to the supergiant’s name, which translates from Arabic as “hand of the giant.”
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>Hidden cozied up to Betelgeuse, a bright red star in the constellation Orion, astronomers may have finally found the giant star’s long-sought companion. This close-orbiting partner, first postulated over a century ago, [matches some predictions](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/betelgeuse-hidden-companion-star) and adds another piece to the puzzle of the mysterious supergiant star.
>The images, to appear in the *Astrophysical Journal Letters*, show the companion only faintly. The astronomers, and others in the field, agree that the discovery, while exciting, is not definitive.
>“I think at this point it’s quite tough to say whether or not the detection is believable,” says Sarah Blunt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz who was not involved with the study. “We’ll have to wait and see if the companion can be confirmed with more instruments.”
>If confirmed, the new star would conventionally be named α Orionis B. Previously, it has been informally called the Betelbuddy, and the astronomers behind the new work suggest the name Siwarha, meaning “her bracelet,” in reference to the supergiant’s name, which translates from Arabic as “hand of the giant.”
[Read more here](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/betelgeuse-companion-star-revealed)